AfterDawn: News

RIAA fights to keep laywers off-camera in P2P case

Why doesn't the RIAA want you to see their lawyers in action? That's the question being asked by bloggers and journalists around the US and across the world as the recording industry group fights to deny The Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University permission to record and stream a hearing in one of their infamous P2P copyright infringement cases.

Leaving aside the lawyers' arguments about courtroom rules, their basic issue with Judge Nancy Gertner's decision allowing the recording and distribution is an alleged bias by the Berkman Center. In an appeal filed last week they point out that the center's website isn't impartial and includes information that they consider prejudicial against the labels and their lawsuit.



Even though it's true that the video would only be available from the Berkman Center's website at the time of the hearing, what the RIAA fails to mention is that it will subsequently be available for anyone to use in part or in full. The RIAA could even use it themselves.

It's an odd position given the RIAA's previous statements that the P2P lawsuits are intended to call attention to their rights and remedies as copyright holders rather than simply punishing individuals. And yet when given the chance to reach the exact demographic they're targetting it becomes a problem.

It looks like the real issue isn't about the video's availability, but rather their lack of control over the coverage. Maybe they are just afraid people will get a chance to see them lose yet another case and decide to defend their rights more vigorously.

Written by: Rich Fiscus @ 19 Jan 2009 16:14

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• 8 comments

• bryston

  Quote:RIAA fights to keep laywers off-camera in P2P case
  Laywers ? The way the word is spelled,, now I know what lawyers have been doing to society !
  
  
  Jo

  19.1.2009 16:39 #1

• beanos66

  first Laywers ?
  
  second riaa object in principal to any sort of media being free they just want the berkman centre to join riaa so that riaa can collect royalties. just like that ridiculous internet radio scam they setup

  19.1.2009 16:46 #2

• Stu_dent

  They just dont want the whole world to see them use there financial mucsle to bully regular people into submission!

  19.1.2009 17:58 #3

• Hellrasin

  Look if you are anyone else wants access to court proceedings that have ended in relation to the RIAA just file a freedom of information request.

  19.1.2009 20:45 #4

• BIGDAWG3

  its just a typo chill

  20.1.2009 17:13 #5

• DXR88

  vurbal's cool it is just a typo. its RIAA thats every sentence they spout the L word.
  

  
  

  21.1.2009 02:07 #6

• hugolove

  Originally posted in another anti-RIAA thread...
  
  "This is all empty discussion - you all know for a fact that they are never going to stop until all freedoms have been stripped from us, leaving us to choose between only those options they allow us.
  
  You cannot advise using the law to get out of this - the law can and has been changed on many occasions to suit the needs of big business. This is no different. Those in charge wish to remain in charge, and will scratch each other's backs endlessly to make sure this occurs.
  
  It is not that they will not listen to the voice and decisions of the common people - it is that they hold that voice of such people in complete disregard. They want only to control you, your minds, your actions, and harness you to the wheel of their industry.
  
  They stupify you with "their" culture - Pop Idol, Gladiators, celebrity marriages and breakups, compelling you to work in their sweatshops in order to earn their valueless currency.
  
  Even your home, the roof over your head, the most basic necessity of human survival, must be bought at such a high cost that we cannot afford it without taking out an immense loan, repayable over 25 years, keeping us in bonded slavery as long as it exists.
  
  The economy is a lie - just whom exactly do we and our American and European brethren owe our national debt too? Why, the very same super-rich elite who, it is claimed, have engineered this whole situation. These, my friends, are our enemies.
  
  Direct not the brunt of your anger at our politicians or police, for they too are mere pawns. Some indeed have no clue whatsoever how this state of affairs came into being, and are merely pig-headed fools. Others are weak men who have allowed themselves to be bought with promises of wealth or power to come, and should be pitied as much as they are despised.
  
  No, my friends, these are not our true enemies. They are merely the least amongst us.
  
  The rich. Or, more accurately, the super-rich. In all manner of criminal investigations, one looks to see who benefits from the crime in order to find the purpetrator. Where, my friends, does the money go? From whose stained and scaly chin are we stealing the breadcrumbs of Piracy?
  
  For it is mere breadcrumbs we remove from the plate of the great purveyors of music - indeed there is evidence to suggest that piracy has in fact increased record sales in recent years, due to the explosive proliferation of musical availability Piracy has engendered. These breadcrumbs, therefore, cannot be said to be the reason for the immense legal upheaval we are currently experiencing.
  
  No, my friends, the issue is control. We have dared to buck our oppressor, to show him we have a will of our own, and now he would crush that will. To remain silent is to submit yourself to his dominance; to attempt to use his own system against him will only result in that system being ammended to his satisfaction. We have only one recourse...
  
  REVOLUTION!
  
  I was recently reminded that Anarchy does not mean chaos, it means "no leaders". I, my friends, am an Anarchist, and I invite you to join my cause in any way you see fit.
  
  I thank you for reading...
  
  M"
  
  Pass it on

  25.1.2009 19:01 #7

• pmshah

  I see another possibility. If the faces of the RIAA lawyers are visible on the net and recognizable, may be these guys will not be able to visit prospective victims and come up with some misrepresentation to get information.

  27.1.2009 21:27 #8